Posts Tagged ‘Stanley Kubrick’

We don’t often feature documentaries here at The Flickcast. Not sure exactly why that is, especially when the doc in question is about one of the greatest horror films of all time, which is based on one of the best horror novels of all time and directed by one of the greatest directors of all time.

We’re talking, of course, about Stanley Kubrick and his masterpiece The Shining, based on the novel by Stephen King. There’s a documentary coming out soon about the film and it’s creators and it’s called Room 237. If you’ve seen The Shining, you’ll understand. If not, you have bigger problems than can be solved here.

We’ve got a trailer for it after the break. Room 237 comes to theaters and iTunes on March 29th.

Among the many things we love around here is great design. And one of the greatest designers of all time is the legendary Saul Bass. His work on countless movie posters and title sequences, often with his wife Elaine, are among the best examples of modern design out there.

Another group of people who appreciate great design are the folks over at The Fox Is Black. They’ve collected some great examples of Bass’ work on posters for Kubrick’s The Shining and the collection goes a long way to show the level of craft and dedication that went into the making of this iconic piece of cinema history.

Check out a few other examples after the break. For much more, head over here.

Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964) is the ultimate black comedy, war movie which pokes fun at the absurdity of nuclear war and those responsible for escalating tensions throughout world during the Cold War. The film stars the great Peter Sellers as three of the film’s major characters, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of her majesty’s R.A.F., U.S. President Merkin Muffley, and as crippled ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove who tries to educate the president and his staff as to the intentions of the Soviets, and how America can survive World War III.

Other talents include Sterling Hayden as Gen. Jack D. Ripper, (the commander of Burpelson A.F.B.), and George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, a fanatically anti-Soviet member of the president’s staff, and loosely based on actual American Air Force Gen. Curtis “bombs away” LeMay who was one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a veteran of the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Dr. Strangelove was based on the novel Red Alert written by Peter George. The screenplay was written by Kubrick, George, and satirist Terry Southern as a film which shows just how crazy and simple it truly is for the super powers to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon. As tensions flare around the world due to Soviet and western policy expansion, Gen. Jack Ripper (a stellar performance from actor Sterling Hayden) orders the air wing of his B-52 bomber squadron to initiate “Wing attack plan R”, a plan which gives lower echelon commanders the authority to launch a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union if the normal chain of command is disrupted, e.g. if the president and Washington D.C. were taken out by a sneak attack.

1987’s Full Metal Jacket is Stanley Kubrick’s riveting classic about U.S. Marines who survive the brutality of basic training only to be caught up in the horrific 1968 Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The film is based on Gustav Hasford’s novel The Short-Timers, and screen writer Michael Herr (Apocalypse Now), lend their literary talents to the production of the film.

Matthew Modine (“Joker”), Adam Baldwin (Sgt. “Animal Mother”), Vincent D’ Onofrio (Pvt. “Gomer Pyle”) Arliss Howard (“Cowboy”), and R. Lee Ermey (Gunnery Sgt. Hartman) make up the cast of this amazing Vietnam war movie. Like Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Kubrick’s incredibly underrated eighteenth century military period piece Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket is shot for shot, and line for line Kubrick at his finest.

The film is most notable for Ermey’s improvisation in many of the scenes. During the production Ermey was made the military technical adviser for the film and he so desperately wanted to try out for the role of Sgt. Hartman. Kubrick had seen and admired Ermey’s portrayal of SSgt. Loyce in The Boys in Company C and felt that he wasn’t tough enough for the role.

Paths of Glory (1957) is one of the first masterpieces from acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick. It was loosely based on a rather obscure novel by Humphrey Cobb who published the story in 1935 about an actual group of French soldiers who were tried and condemned to death for cowardice in the face of the enemy during World War I.

The film opens up in 1916 where the narrator informs the audience that after two long years, the war has evolved into a series of trench warfare where victory was measured in precious yards. A series of trench fortifications ran from the Swiss frontier to the English Channel which stopped the advancing German army within thirty or so miles of Paris. Kirk Douglas plays the leading role as Col. Dax who is a company commander and chosen by the General Corp to defend three men who are chosen as scapegoats during a failed attack on an impregnable German position.

Like most weeks, this time around we’ve got another bunch of new movies and TV shows hitting DVD and Blu-ray. Some of them are new, some are old and some are hitting Blu-ray for the first time.

Of the ones hitting stores today, we’re most interested in the Blu-ray release of The Road, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, the Criterion edition of Stagecoach, True BloodSeason Two, Royal Pains Season One, the western Django and the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film Spartacus (pictured above with Woody Strode and Kick Douglas).